Dark Crisis
by Phoenix Ride
Summary: What if the Frog Metarex from episode 56 had swallowed Knuckles? How would that turn the tide of the war? Especailly when the Metarex discover Knuckles secret ability. Find out! Please Read and Review. Flames will be obilterated!
1. Chapter 1: Prisoned!

**Dark Crisis**

**By: Phoenix Ride**

**Ch.1: Prisoned!**

"Sonic catch!" yelled Chris tossing Zeco's planet egg into midair.

Seeing Sonic wasn't going to make it in time Knuckles climbed up the gaint frog metarex's back, jumped, and grabbed the planet egg. The metal frog's tounge lashed out entwining Knuckles in its unbreakable grasp.

Next thing anyone knew Knuckles plus Zeco's planet egg were swallowed by the mechanical frog. Tails had been busy charging up the Sonic Power Cannon, but when he saw the frog swallow Knuckles he knew there was no way he could shoot without harming the echidna now trapped in the frog's belly.

With one gaint leap the metarex took to the skies and disappeared. Everyone on the ground couldn't believe it.

"Hey" said Amy having a sudden realization " if that was the planet egg why hasn't this place flooded?"

"It wasn't the planet egg" said Chris " it was our beachball. I intended to keep the metarex distracted long enough so Sonic could destroy it with the Sonic Power Cannon,"

"And now they got Knuckles," said Tails.

"We have to go after those creeps" said Sonic " there's no telling what they'll do to Knuckles,"

**---------------------------------------**

"Uh, my head" thought Knuckles as he painfully opened his eyes getting a glimspe of his surroundings " where am I?"

A bright blue light suddenly attracted his attention to the darkest corner of the room. Still carrying the beach ball in his hand Knuckles bent down to pick up a bright blue chaos emerald.

"This was the emerald the frog swallowed" said Knuckles " but...that means..that I'm in his stomach,"

"Well" Knuckles thought, sitting down " there's nothing I can do from the inside. Even if I manage to break out I would be lost in space. I'll just have to see where this ride takes me,"

The metarex soon landed at Dark Oak's base and Knuckles could hear the Metarex leader speak through the frog's armor.

"What have you to report?" said Dark Oak.

"Planet egg and chaos emerald obtianed" said the frog " prisoner also aquired sir,"

"A prisoner?" said Dark Oak " show him to me,"

The frog coughed up Knuckles hurling the red echidna at Dark Oak's feet. Knuckles had lost his grip on the planet egg when the frog started to cough and it was still in the frog's stomach. Worse the blue chaos emerald jarred loose from his hand by the force of the fall and landed between him and Dark Oak.

"Well" said Dark Oak, picking up the chaos emerald " how nice of you to bring me a gift. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

"None of your business Meta-punk!" shot Knuckles.

Dark Oak nodded to the frog behind Knuckles and before the echidna even knew it he was soon forced to the ground by the frog's foot.

"I ask you agian" said Dark Oak " what is your name?"

Knuckles refused to say a word and Dark Oak continued.

"Fine then" he said, getting close to Knuckles face " but just the same I will find out who you are,"

**---------------------------------------**

"What's the matter Tails?" said Sonic motioning to the plane " why can't we get this thing off the ground?"

"Without Knuckles around to power the ship we have on backup power" said Tails making the last few ajustments " hang on everyone!"

With a gaint lurch the Blue Typhoon took off into outer space in order to rescue Knuckles.

**-----------------------------------------**

Meanwhile, Knuckles was being forcibly strapped to some sort of bizaar machinery with all the Metarex leaders watching him. The machine was turned on and soon a howl of pain escaped to the far corners of space.

Knuckles felt like he was being electrocuted. Dagger's of green light energy surged up and down his body leaving behind a wave of pain after each pass. The Metarex leaders were smiling in delight out of the torture Knuckles was going through, and even after the pain stopped Knuckles could still feel the light's effects.

Green Bay Leaf looked over the results from the scan with interest.

"Hmmm" he said " it seems this creature has the ability to control chaos power like Sonic, but on an unseemily higher level,"

"How much higher?" asked Dark Oak.

"Plenty higher" said Bay Leaf " he has more power than the seven chaos emeralds combined,"

"Interesting" said Dark Oak, looking at his generals " leave us alone for a minute,"

The Metarex generals left and soon Dark Oak and Knuckles were alone.

" There's much to you animals than it first appears" said Dark Oak " only those worthy enough are entitled to control the powers of chaos. With you by our side we wouldn't have a need to collect all the chaos emeralds,"

"That's what you think" said Knuckles " I am just a servant of the emeralds meant to make sure that the chaos emeralds powers do not go out of control,"

"A servant soon to be converted into my ways" said Dark Oak " soon creature the Metarex will rule all, and then only those who serve me will survive,"


	2. Chapter 2: Evil's Ultimate Power

**Ch.2: Evil's Ultimate Power**

As the Blue Typhoon drifted through the loneliness of space Sonic couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with the noise levels in the ship, because there was none. Not one of the gang had spoken since take off, and Chris was the most silent of all.

The human had seperated himself from the others, staring off into space with his head hung low. Sonic knew how much Chris blamed himself for Knuckles getting captured, but there was no way any of them could change it.

All they could do was hope that Knuckles was going to be okay.

**---------------------------------**

At the Metarex base the Metarex leaders gathered themselves in a conference chamber to decide thier prisoner's fate.

"I say we get rid of him now," said Yellow Zelkova banging his fist on the table.

"No" said Green Bay Leaf " his powers could be a great use to us. If only we...,"

"He will not share his strentgh so willingly" said Dark Oak interrupting Green Bay Leaf's statement " he is to loyal to Sonic and the others,"

"Then what shall we do?" asked Black Necrous.

"By making him one of us,"

**--------------------------------------**

"It's quiet" Knuckles thought " maybe too quiet,"

The red echidna had been laying bound to the Metarex's scanning machine while the Metarex leaders were having their meeting. About an hour passed before that silence was broken by the sound of doors sliding open.

Black Necrous and Green Bay Leaf came in, the latter holding a small dark object in his hand. Knuckles couldn't tell what the device was, but he felt that whatever the reason it was brought here it wouldn't be good.

"Relax" said Black Necrous pressing his metal claws down on Knuckles chest " this won't hurt...much,"

"What are you going to do to me?" demanded Knuckles struggling both agianist his bonds and the Metarex's grip.

"You'll soon find out," said Green Bay Leaf putting the dark object againist Knuckles forehead.

The moment the small object touched his skull Knuckles suddenly felt woozy. His mind blurred, and everything went black. Black Necrous and Green Bay Leaf smiled. The brainwashing process had begun.

Two hours later Knuckles reawakened to see all the Metarex leaders this time gathered around him, but this time he did not regonize who they were.

"Who are you?" said Knuckles pressing a hand to his forehead, the tiny black object had dissolved into his skull " and why do I feel so dizzy?"

"You had a little accident Scarlet Snapdragon" said Dark Oak " I am afriad the enmies to our cause knocked you out and caused you to lose your memory,"

"My memory?" said Knuckles.

Suddenly the small black object Black Necrous and Green Bay Leaf planted earlier began to take effect revealing to Knuckles a memory that showed him aboard the Blue Typhoon and sneaking messages to the Metarex. But then the members on the Blue Typhoon found out and attacked him.

"That explians why I'm in the hospital" said Knuckles " to bad I didn't have my gear with me or I would have trashed them,"

"Yes, it was to bad" said Dark Oak " but we couldn't lose, you're the whole cornerstone in our plan. For you have the power to control chaos,"

"I remember now" said Knuckles as another false memory passed through his mind " I was supposed to snatch that Master Emerald. It's the whole key the chaos emeralds power. If we control that, we can conquer the whole universe,"

"True, but now that they suspect you as a traitor you can't possibly board the Typhoon again," said Yellow Zelkova.

"You're right" said Knuckles smiling " I guess I'll have to dress up first then,"

In a few minutes Knuckles was strapped into his Metarex gear giving him the appearence on a humanized scarlet dragon. The Blue Typhoon wouldn't know what hit them until it was to late.


	3. Chapter 3: Capture of the Typhoon

**Ch.3: Capture of the Typhoon**

Things were pretty peaceful aboard the Blue Typhoon, until that is the alarm started to blare. Tails imedately went to work searching for the disturbance and gasped when he saw a gaint, red Metarex command ship heading towards the Blue Typhoon.

"I thought we already defeated Red Pine" said Amy.

" I am not Red Pine" came an unfriendly voice from the other ship as the new foe made himself seen " I am Scarlet Snapdragon,"

Sonic and the crew nearly gasped when the saw this new enemey. This new Metarex bore a close resemblence to his name for he indeed looked like a humanized scarlet dragon.

"You and your crew tried to detsroy me once but failed " said Scarlet Snapdragon " now I will finish what I am here to do,"

Two gaint red, robotic cobras pounced out of Snapdragon's ship and swam towards the Typhoon.

"Tails!" shouted Sonic " shields up! Now!"

But the cobras reached the ship before Tails got the chance. Within secods the defenses aboard the Typhoon were disabled, allowing Scarlet Snapdragon the oppurnity he needed to climb aboard the Typhoon uninvited.

Sonic was about to charge, but the sound of screams stopped him in his tracks. The robotic cobras had grabbed Chris and Cosmo with thier heads poised and ready to strike as soon as Scarlet Snapdragon gave the word. The sight made Scarlet Snapdragon laugh.

" You how fast a cobra can strike" he said " and how deadly thier venom can be. If you try to stop me from reaching the Master Emerald both of them will die,"

"Sonic" said Amy " we have no choice. We can't endanger Chris and Cosmo,"

"But we can't let him take the Master Emerald either" said Sonic " how would Knuckles feel if we just handed over the most powerful gem in the universe to an enemy?"

"It's your choice Sonic" said Scarlet Snapdragon " the gem or your friends,"

Seeing he was in a no win situation here Sonic reluctantly slipped aside allowing the Metarex entrance into the power core. As soon the Metarex was out of earshot Sonic turned his angry, narrowed eyes at Tails.

" I'm not going to let him get away with this" said Sonic " you find a way to rescue Chris and Cosmo, I'm going after the Metarex,"

Tails nodded showing that he understood as Sonic raced off to stop the Metarex from stealing Knuckles Master Emerald. But when he got there Scarlet Snapdragon was already lifting up the Master Emerald in his hands.

" To late Sonic" said Snapdragon " the Master Emerald is finally back where it belongs,"

A green light suddenly filled the room blinding Sonic for a bit. When the hedgehog regaining his sight both the Metarex and the Master Emerald were gone.

Scarlet Snapdragon materlized back on his ship with his prize and called for his two cobras to release Cosmo and Chris. The two snakes released them and formed together to make circular portal.

As Scarlet Snapdragon's ship turned to face the portal a net of grappling claws braced themselves onto the metal structure of the now completely powerless Typhoon. So as Scarlet Snapdragon's ship went through the portal the Blue Typhoon had no choice but to follow.

Sonic and the gang had been captured by the Metarex.


	4. Chapter 4: An Unlikely Ally

**Ch.4: An Unlikely Ally**

Ever since his defeat on Planet Zeco eggman had kept his eye on the Blue Typhoon hoping that Sonic and his gang would lead him to another chaos emerald. But when he saw on his monitors that a Metarex had captured the Blue Typhoon that changed the whole stragety of Eggman's game.

" Rouge! Shadow! Get up here!" Eggman commanded into the intercom. Seconds later the two had joined him on the bridge.

" I want you two to over hear the call I am going to make" said Eggman " once I establish an alliance you will accompany me as my escorts. The Blue Typhoon has been captured by the Metarex,"

This news sent a shock through Rouge and Shadow. Eggman had been using them as spies for awhile now, to find out what kind of evil the Metarex were up to. In an unoffical way they basically helping Sonic and the others.

"Ah Master Dark Oak I presume," said Eggman once he established a connection to the metarex mothership.

"Dr. Eggman?" said Dark Oak in surprise " I don't know how you hacked into our communication lines. State your bussiness now,"

Eggman explianed his offer to exchange some of his technilogical know-how for a chance to study the metarex's technology. Dark Oak refused the offer at first until Eggman threw in his trump card. To help the Metarex find the rest of the chaos emeralds.

"Very well Doctor" said Dark Oak " we have the Master emerald and it's guardian but the rest of the chaos emeralds need to be obtained in order for our plan to work. Meet us at the edge of the Zarx Galaxy and we'll talk over your offer,"

The converstation ended and Eggman turned to Shadow and Rouge.

"We don't have much time to waste" said Eggman " prepare the Egg Drive. We're going to rescue the Blue Typhoon,"

**------------------------------------------**

Meanwhile, on board the Metarex ship, Sonic and the others found themselves jailed thanks to that new Metarex, Scarlet Snapdragon, with no way out.

" I can't believe he got away with the Master Emerald" said Sonic rapidly pacing the floor in frustration " Knuckles is going to kill me when we find him,"

"If we ever do find him," said Chris sighing dejectedly.

" Come on guys we'll find him" said Tails cheerfully " it just might be a good thing that the Metarex captured us,"

"What are you talking about Tails?" demanded Amy angrily.

" I mean" said Tails " that Knuckles was captured by the Metarex. He may even be aboard this ship. That's why Scarlet Snapdragon wanted the Master Emerald. So Knuckles could power it,"

"Brillant deduction Tails" said Sonic " but it won't do us or Knuckles any good if we don't get out of here,"

"That must be why we're here for," came a sudden voice outside thier cell. Sonic and the others turned to see Shadow and Rouge grinning from the other side.

" Shadow. Rouge" said Chris " what are you doing here?"

"The Doctor sends his regards" said Shadow tossing the keys to the cell at Sonic " your ship is docked nearby, so i sugguest you leave quickly,"

"But we can't go" said Tails " not until we find Knuckles,"

"Yes" said Shadow " we heard that he had got captured. If he's anywhere me and Rouge will find him. Just leave it to us,"

" No can do Shadow" said Sonic " our power core is drained and we need the Master Emerald to charge it up. And while we're at it we're going to rescue our friend too. So like it or not you're stuck with us pal,"

Shadow's eyes were narrowed in frustration but before he could say anything Rouge tapped him on the shoulder.

" We're late for the meeting," she said.

" Fine" said Shadow " let's go,"

Five minutes later Rouge and Shadow joined Dr. Eggman in the Metarex's conference room. Green Bay Leaf, Black Necrous, Yellow Zelkova and Dark Oak were already gathered in four of the five chairs placed before Dr. Eggman, Dark Oak taking the middle chair of course.

" Before we start" said Dr. Eggman " would mind telling me why that fifth seat is unoccupied?"

" Not at all" said Dark Oak snapping his metal fingers " that seat used to belong to Red Pine, but now that seat belongs to a new Metarex,"

The metal doors to the conference room slid open revealing a metarex that had the appearence of a humanized scarlet dragon. The new metarex instantly took his rightful place in the fifth seat.

"So that's the Metarex who captured the Blue Typhoon" said Eggman " I wonder who he is?"

Dark Oak nodded to Scarlet Snapdragon to answer the Doctor's curious question and moments later the scarlet metarex shedded his metal exterior to reveal a shocking sight. For underneath all that red metal was none other than Knuckles the Echidna, Guardian of the Master Emerald.


	5. Chapter 5: Black Chaos

**Ch.5: Black Chaos**

" I can't believe it" said Eggman to Dark Oak " how in the world did Knuckles ever become a Metarex?"

" When he refused to join our cause willingly" said Dark Oak " we were forced to plant a seed in skull to brainwash him into being one of us. Now with your chaos emerald Doctor will be able to complete our mission. The elimination of all organic life,"

" Elimination?" Rouge whispered to Shadow " won't that include us too?"

" The Metarex can't be trusted" Shadow responded back " I'm just not sure how Sonic and the others are going to react when they realize that thier friend has just turned into thier greatest enemey,"

**-------------------------------------**

At that time Sonic and the others were busy following Tails through the ever twisting corridors of the Metarex ship to find the way to the power core where the Master Emerald was likely being kept. While Sonic would check the East Wing prison cells in search for Knuckles Tails and the others were to retrieve the Master emerald and any chaos emeralds they found.

When they finally reached the power core the first emotion they all expressed was surprise. The power core room looked like a mechanical version of the Matser Emerald's alter back on Angel Island. It was an amazing sight to see, yet at the same time very strange.

The Master Emerald was in its proper place at the center of the alter with seven pillars surrounding it. On top of six of those pillars was the glittering force of six chaos emeralds. But still something wasn't right according to Sonic's mind, how did the Metarex know what the alter on Angel Island looked like?

While Sonic pondered this question Tails approached the alter, but was stopped imediately by an invisble force field. as soon as the force field had been touched it started to glow blue and soon became charged with electricity so that if Tails tried to walk through it a second time it would fry him to a crisp.

" We need to shut the force field down somehow" said Tails " otherwise we'll never get the emeralds,"

" Get busy then" said Sonic " I'm going to check out the cells to see if Knuckles is in there,"

" If you find him" said Cosmo pressing a pouch into Sonic's hands " he may need this. It's a medicine that grew on my home planet and is known for its vast healing powers. I do not know what the Metarex have done to Knuckles, but I have a feeling he may need it,"

" I will thanks," said Sonic and ran off without saying another word.

" Hey Tails" said Amy as soon as sonic disappeared " I think I found the controls for the force field,"

Moments later the two-tailed fox moved to the panel that the pink hedgehog was pointing to with Chris following behind. Tails quickly put all his hacking skills to use in order to bring down the shield. He had almost figured out the code when Cream's chao friend Cheese accidently bumped into him making the fox's arms bang into the keyboard.

It didn't take long for the alarm to sound or Sonic from figuring out that their cover had been blown. In the meeting chamber the Metarex and Eggman's crew could clearly hear the alert. Shadow grumbled in frustration.

" Those fools, now the Metarex will know they escaped,"

"Someone is trying to break into the power core" said Green Bay Leaf " it looks like Sonic and his pals,"

"We can't let them get away with emeralds" said Yellow Zelkova turning to Dark Oak " Master, allow me to put a stop to these intruders,"

" No" said Dark Oak " it will be more fun to see Sonic and his friends getting crushed by one of thier own allies. Scarlet Snapdragon, destroy them,"

" Yes Master Dark Oak," said Knuckles, donning the armor of scarlet Snapdragon before he walked out of the room.

" Now watch Doctor" said Dark Oak to Eggman " and witness the true power of the Metarex,"

**---------------------------------------------------**

The alarm was still blaring and blue bolts were seperating from the energy field flying off in random directions. Tails was working frantically to shut down the system but it was taking to long which was making Amy irritated.

" Oh just let me handle it," said Amy bringing out her Piko Piko Hammer.

Before anyone could stop her the pink hedgehog let loose a rebel yell and smashed the force field controls. Five seconds later the alarm and the electrified force field dissappeared.

" Well that's one way to bring it down," said Chris.

" It just needed a women's touch," said Amy blowing wind across her knuckles.

" That alarm no doubt warned the Metarex" said Sonic seriously " let's grab the emeralds and get out of here,"

" You're not going anywhere," came a unexpected voice.

Sonic and the crew turned around to see Scarlet Snapdragon shilouted in the doorway to the power core room. His yellow eyes aglow in order to fill Sonic and the others with fear at his superior nature.

" Alright" said Sonic " I've been waiting all day for a rematch. Bring it on,"


	6. Chapter 6: Shadow To The Rescue

**Ch.6: Shadow To The Rescue**

" We have to help them Shadow," whispered Rouge.

" Agreed" said Shadow " Sonic and his friends have no idea what they're up againist. But we can't leave this room without being detected. The Metarex will be suspicous if both of us disappeared,"

" You go" said Rouge " I'll cover,"

With that Shadow slipped away from the conference room and sped his way to the power core, destroying any security cameras he found along the way so the Metarex wouldn't be able to see what he was doing.

" I have to hurry" thought Shadow " I have the feeling that if Sonic and I don't stop Knuckles in time, everyone is going to pay,"

**--------------------------------**

Sonic charged at Scarlet Snapdragon trying to take down the Metarex in sonic burst. From his metal claws Scarlet Snapdragon releashed a steaming hot river of flame filling up a good quarter of the room.

Chris and the others watched in horror as Sonic was engulfed by the flames. But no meesely fire was going to stop Sonic the hedgehog. Just seconds after the flame had surrounded him Sonic jumped out of the fire and aimed a drill kick at Scarlet Snapdragon's dragon-shaped head.

Unexpectantly Scarlet Snapdragon fired another direct stream of flame at Sonic through his mouth. With no time to dodge or speed from his descent Sonic was schorched by the flames and lay beaten in front of the emeralds alter.

" Pathectic" said Scarlet Snapdragon " I was expecting more of a challenge from the fastest hedgehog on Earth. But you always were a fool Sonic. Especailly ever since you mericessly attacked me when I was working for your crew,"

" What are you talking about?" said Sonic " only one member of my crew is missing, and he was the best friend and equal I ever had the pleasure of knowing. Your kind is what took him away from me, and that's why you must pay,"

Sonic righted himself and was about to charge at Scarlet Snapdragon again but to everyones surprise Shadow got in the way.

" Stop it now Sonic" said Shadow " you don't know who you're up againist. This metarex you're facing used to be Knuckles the echidna,"

At that news everyone except Scarlet Snap dragon gasped in shock.

" I know it comes as surprise" said Shadow " but when the Metarex captured Knuckles they planted a seed in his brain and turned into this. So if you destroy him you're also destroying your friend,"

" Then I'm just going to have to get that seed out of his brain" said Sonic turning to Shadow " you with me?"

Shadow nodded and together the two hedgehogs charged at Scarlet Snapdragon. But an electric field was put up around him sending the two hedgehogs flying backwards and into the steel walls, knocking them unconious.

" Fools" said Scarlet Snapdragon " Metarex and animals alike. You've granted me the power I needed to remake this world in my own image,"

He walked over a grabbed the last choas emerald from Shadow and continued " With the emeralds power no one will be able to stop me,"

Soon evil laughter filled the spaceship leaving a sinking feeling of gloom and doom burrow in everyone's hearts.


	7. Chapter 7: Scarlet Siege

**Ch.7: Scarlet Seige**

" Well" said Eggman to the Metarex " it seems to me like Kncukles has gotten out of control. Your precious black seed backfired,"

" No one defies the power of the Metarex" said Dark Oak turning to his commanders " come, we have to put a stop to our Scarlet Snapdragon,"

While Eggman and Rouge joined the Metarex on their journey to the power core Tails and the others were busy dealing with the destructive force of Scarlet Snapdragon.

" We can't let Knuckles reach the core" said Tails to the others " if he does there's no telling what will happen,"

" What about Sonic and Shadow?" said Amy.

" They'll be fine" said Chris " but Tails is right we have to stop Scarlet Snapdragon,"

" No" same a sudden voice from the power core's doorway " you shall leave him to us,"

Tails and the others were surprised when saw the Metarex along with Eggman and Rouge also standing in the room. The one in front, which Tails guessed to be Dark Oak, had his eyes narrowed into slits of anger.

" Scarlet Snapdragon" said Dark Oak " your behavior makes you no longer worthy to be a Metarex. Therefore you must be destroyed,"

" You? Destroy me?" laughed Scarlet Snapdragon holding up the chaos emerald " I control the power here,"

The chaos emerald clutched in Scarlet snapdragon's hands suddenly illuminated and billions of techi-colored lightning bolts popped out and struck Dark Oak and the other Metarex. As Sonic and Shadow awakened all they could hear were the Metarex's screaming in pain.

Then to everyones surprise Scarlet Snapdragon snapped his fingers and the other Metarex's crumbled into dust.

" Knuckles has gone completely out of control" said Eggman " we need to stop him before he destroys the universe,"

" But how?" said Rouge " unless we can get rid of his armor we won't be able to do any damage at all,"

" If we were in our Super forms" said Shadow to Sonic " we would have no problem cracking open that tin can. but Knuckles has all the emeralds,"

" No problem" said Sonic " I'll take him down,"

" Oh no you won't" said Scarlet Snapdragon " Cobramechs come forth,"

Soon the two red robotic cobras that Sonic and his gang had saw when the Typhoon was attacked. The two cobras attacked Sonic distracting the blue hedgehog and allowing Scarlet Snapdragon to place the seventh chaos emerald in its spot on the alter.

" The servers are the seven chaos" Scarlet Snapdragon began to recite " chaos is power enriched by the heart. The controller serves to unify the chaos. I call forth my powers as guardian to bring end to the universe,"

Suddenly black lightning bolts exploded from all the emeralds trapping everyone within its deadly cage. While Scarlet Snapdragon stood laughing Rouge suddenly burst at full speed and kicked Knuckles off his perch.

" Shadow! Sonic! Now!" said Rouge " get to the emeralds! I'll handle Knuckles,"

" You couldn't handle a fly," said Scarlet Snapdragon shooting flames striaght at Rouge.

While Knuckles was distracted Sonic and Shadow approached the metal alter and sucked in the postive powers of the emeralds turning them into Super Sonic and Super Shadow. This transformation was not lost to Knuckles as he saw his chances for domination growing thinner by the second.


	8. Chapter 8: Double Trouble

**Ch.8: Double Trouble**

The battle began with Super Sonic and Super Shadow charging at Scarlet Snapdragon determined to tear apart his armor plating bit by bit. Using the power of Chaos Control to increase his speed Shadow was able fire his Chaos Spears at such speed that Scarlet Snapdragon barely had time to dodge.

One spear managed to pierce all the way through the armor leaving a gaint crack in it's place to reveal the weak point. Sonic moved in next and used his super spin to crack the shell the rest of the way open.

The armor plating broke off, and those standing on the sidelines cheered. But cheers didn't last long when what lay underneath all that armor. There was Knuckles, his scalene eyes set in a fierce glare, and his red fur glowing an eerie black.

Dr. Eggman was to stunned for words. The only other time he had seen this dark transformation was with Sonic. The blue hedgehog had become furious with what the Metarex had done to his friends, and so possessed by anger that his new found power threatened to destroy anyone that got in his way. That's the way Knuckles looked now.

But it wasn't just this fact that had Eggman on his toes. No, the Good Doctor had noticed that the Chaos and Master Emeralds were starting to black as well. They were turning evil, just like their guardian.

" The Metarex have no idea what monster they have created," said Eggman.

That statement was only proven when the Dark Hyper Knuckles rushed Super Sonic and Super Shadow at lightning speed. Both hedgehogs, and especially the auidence, were shocked at Knuckles amazing speed.

Before either Sonic or Shadow had a chance to dodge Knuckles pummeled them both with his spiky fists. Shadow and Sonic were both knocked into a wall with stunning force.

Afriad Amy started to rush towards Sonic but Dark Hyper Knuckles met her halfway and blasted her with a Chaos Blade. Amy's yell brought Super Sonic back to reality and his eyes were open to witness Amy get hit by Knuckles Chaos Blade.

Her scream of terror was horrifying that Super Shadow had to hold his ears. But the scene was over when Amy's crippled body fell, and her blood leaked on the floor. Sonic flew in mad rage at Knuckles.

" That's it!" said Sonic " mind control or not, you are going down!"

But Dark Hyper Knuckles had one more surprise up his sleeve for Sonic. As glowing gold image of Super Sonic raced towards him Knuckles called down lightning seemingly from nowhere and trapped Sonic in a Chaos Cage.

But the Chaos Cage Knuckles had summoned did more than stop Sonic's attack. In the few seconds Sonic was in there all of the gold energy that surrounded his body started to seep away and into the life-draining force of the Chaos Cage.

Everyone that saw this stood still in shock and horror as Super Sonic's gold fur was turning back to electric blue. Rouge, who had been observing all of this from the sidelines now thought that after all this staring it was finally time to intervene.

Plucking a knock out dart from her waist-line belt Rouge fired the dart at Knuckles, and it struck the echidna in the back of the neck. Shocked by the sting of the dart Knuckles lost his concentration for a moment and the Chaos Cage desentagrated.

Before falling unconious Knuckles gave Rouge a frightening glare and then blacked out onto the floor.

Losing his super form Shadow rushed over the unconious Sonic while the others ran to help the injured Amy. Dr. Eggman stood speechless in wonderment when all of a sudden a new problem arose.

From the metal alter the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds were overloading with power, thanks to their now unconious guardians dark heart. Rouge saw this as well and hurried to remove the control chip attached to Knuckles skull. But even when she crushed it, Knuckles fur, and the Emeralds still remianed black.

" We have to stop this somehow," cried Chris.

But without Knuckles the Emeralds could not be stopped. All that was left for them all was destruction.


	9. Chapter 9: Chaos End

**Ch.9: Chaos End**

With Knuckles knocked unconious by Rouge's dart the Emeralds were bursting at the seems with dark energy. Dodging the dark bolts Tails reached the control panel that Amy smashed when the force field was up and tried to put a stop to the Emeralds wild energy.

But before he could complete his short repairs and switch the wires a dark bolt of lightning shot out of the Master Emerald and blasted the poor, twin-tailed fox into one of the metal walls.

"Tails!" yelled Chris, running over to the fox " are you alright?"

"I'll be okay" said Tails, struggling to get up " but if we don't put a stop to this power surge we won't be,"

"Maybe we can help" said Sonic waking up from unconiousness " drain the core,"

" But the force of that energy could destroy you," said Cosmo worriedly.

"What's more dangerous?" said Shadow sarcasticlly " getting zapped or blown up? Besides with Knuckles out, we don't have another choice,"

With no arguement from the others both Sonic and Shadow bravely stepped up to the core and started to drain away the dark energy. The process was clearly painful for them both as they kept screaming in pain.

Covering her sensetive ears from hearing Sonic's and Shadow's screams Rouge's eyes landed on the unconious Knuckles. Clearly the Chaos Drain was having somekind of effect, because Knuckles black fur was changing back into red.

"Keep it up guys" said Chris " a little more and it will all be over,"

But apparently, a little more, was more than both hedgehogs could handle when the Master Emerald started to fight back. The force absorbed from it was nearly twice as powerful then those absorbed from the Chaos Emeralds.

And the two hedgehogs were no longer screaming from pain they were screeching from pain. From the sidelines everyones face, even Dr. Eggman's, looked frightened from worry. If this Chaos Drain lasted any longer Sonic and Shadow would probably not make it.

Rouge predicted this would happen and was about to shatter the Master Emerald when a voice yelling " No!" stopped her in her tracks.

Suddenly everyone, especailly Shadow and Sonic, got a surprise when Knuckles pushed them out of the way and took over the Chaos Drain process himself. Everyone watched in horror as Knuckles cries for pain changed to an inhuman scream as the dark energy from the Master Emerald dueled with it's guardian.

Despite the intense pain Knuckles stood strong and drained the last of the dark energy. A gaint blast suddenly exploded from the metal alter flinging everyone into a metal wall.

For about five minutes after the blast everyone was blacked out, and when they awoke everyone could see that the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds were back to normal.

Without thinking everonye cheered with joy that the crisis was finally over. Everyone that is, except for Sonic. The others soon caught onto the blue hedgehog's solemn expression and turned to see what had gotten him depressed.

And then they saw. Knuckles body was still on the floor, breathing, and barely clinging to life.


	10. Chapter 10: The Sleeper Awakes

**Ch.10: The Sleeper Awakes**

"Shadow, Rouge, let's go," said Dr. Eggman, interrupting the moment of silence.

"Where are you going?" asked Cream.

"To get the medical supplies from my ship stat" said Eggman " Amy and Knuckles are in serious condition, and I'll also have to make sure that the Chaos Drain didn't do any damage to Sonic and Shadow. Meanwhile, you can drag the Emeralds back to your ship, we won't be long,"

For once Eggman was as good as his word and soon returned with the medical supplies as promised while the others finished loading the Emeralds aboard the Blue Typhoon.

Sonic and Shadow proved a little drained, sore, and bruised, but otherwise alright. Amy had suffered a severe cut from Knuckles Chaos Blade and lost a lot of blood. With a few sitches Rouge closed the wound and cleaned up the blood.

Knuckles condition proved to be the most serious of all. Shadow determined that the echidna had entered into a coma-like state with an almost dangerous low pulse. There was no telling whether the echidna would ever awaken again.

Despite this information Sonic refused to believe the truth that Knuckles could die and stayed by the echidna's bedside all the way back to their newly restored home.

Three days passed and the stubborn blue hedgehog still refused to leave Knuckles side. Eggman offered Chris a ride back to his home dimension and with a solemn goodbye to Sonic Chris headed back to his own world.

Amy visited Sonic at the hospital whenever she could, cradling the bandage that was wrapped around her waist, and comforted Sonic in his grieving for Knuckles. The poor pink hedgehog wanted so much to end Sonic's pain, but was clueless on how to do so. Neverless she tried to spark a conversation.

"We returned all the Emeralds to the Floating Island" she said " Knuckles will be so pleased when he wakes up,"

" If he does wake up," said Sonic solemnly.

Amy couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Will you listen to yourself?" said Amy " you sound like you've already given up hope that Knuckles can survive. He's been through worse than this and so have you. I believe as long as the Master Emerald lives Knuckles will never die,"

"Better listen to her Sonic," came a weak voice from the bed.

Both hedgehogs nearly jumped in shock as they recgonized the familar voice and peered over to see a smiling Knuckles staring back at them.

"Knuckles, you're alright!" cheered Amy.

"Welcome back to the land of the living buddy," said Sonic, his cheerful attitude returning as well.

Soon everyone in town heard the news that Knuckles was awake, and soon the echidna's hospital room was crowded with every friend he had known. Cream and Cheese had brought a flower crown to give to Knuckles while Tails and Cosmo handed the echidna a smooth blue stone for good luck.

Other gifts were also presented. A pair of gold bracelets from Shadow to fit on Knuckles gloves, a kiss from Rouge, and an exploding T.V. message from Eggman. But the best gift of all came from Sonic and Amy, an invitation. At first Knuckles was a little confused when he got it.

"What's this for?" he asked.

"You have to read it," Amy said, barely managing to conceal a giggle coming from her mouth.

When Knuckles read the card he first stared in shock at Sonic and Amy, and then laughed out loud. The others were curious to what was on the card to make Knuckles laugh so much. Finally, after about two minutes Knuckles mood became serious as he turned to Sonic and Amy.

"This isn't a joke is it?" asked Knuckles.

"Nope, it's offical" said Sonic " Amy and I are getting married, and you're going to be my best man,"

For a moment everyone stood open-mouthed with shock, then they all burst into laughter.

**--------------------------------------------------------------**

A few days later everyone was gathered fr the happy ocassion. Even Eggman promised to behave himself if he was invited. Knuckles was having a little trouble getting used to a tux, but Amy helped him out on that.

"I don't understand it" said Knuckles to Amy " after all these years of letting you chase him, why has he changed his mind?"

"Well I guess you can say that it's your fault" said Amy, straightening Knuckles tie " while I was recovering from your Chaos Blade attack Sonic admitted that he did have feelings for me. He was watching out for both of us in that hospital. I don't know how it would have affected him if we died,"

Before Knuckles could think of a response the wedding bells chimed signaling the start of the ceremony and all past memories were forgotten. Sonic stood at the alter, later joined by Knuckles.

"Do you have the rings?" Sonic silently asked Knuckles.

Knuckles padded the pockets of his tux to show that he did have them. Cream and Cheese came up the aisle first as the Flower Girls for the ceremony. They both took hold of thier part well, throwing flower crowns and petals in all directions.

Then Cosmo, as the maid of honor, came walking down the aisle with Amy. Knuckles tried to hide a smile as he witnessed Sonic blush, and he had to admit Amy did look quite beautiful in a white wedding dress.

After Tails, playing the role of the preacher, made the usual announcements he signaled Knuckles to present the rings, which both hedgehogs soon placed on each others fingers.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife" said Tails " you may kiss the bride,"

And for the first time and history Sonic and Amy lips met in a loving kiss. And as everyone cheered for the happy couple Knuckles just shook his head and said...

"It's about time,"

**The End**


End file.
